The present invention relates to a nozzle for a vacuum cleaner comprising a rotatable member and a cleaning arrangement for removing articles entangled to the rotatable member. The invention is intended for battery powered vacuum cleaners as well as mains-operated vacuum cleaners. The nozzle according to the present invention is further envisaged for robotic vacuum cleaners.
In vacuum cleaning nozzles provided with a rotatable member, i.e. a rotatable brush roll, it is known that threads, lint, human or animal hairs or any other fibrous material tend to cling or wrap around adhere to the brush roll during operation of the vacuum cleaner. This may impair the functioning of the cleaning nozzle. In WO2009/117383A2 it is disclosed a cleaning nozzle for a vacuum cleaner provided with a rotary brush having projecting friction surfaces and one or more cleaning members for removing debris that has been wrapped around the rotary brush. The cleaning members are positioned adjacent the rotary brush and are adapted to move between a resting position and a cleaning position, and are arranged to clean the rotary brush during rotation of the brush. Debris that has been collected on a rotary brush is often difficult to remove because it has wrapped tightly around the brush roll and intertwined the bristles. Therefore, a significant force is needed to be able to thread off the entangled threads by means of a cleaning member pressing against a friction member. Such a force may be applied manually by a user of the vacuum cleaner. The electrical vacuum cleaner or motor brush head need to be capable of providing the necessary power to obtain rotation of the brush roll when such force is applied.
A drawback with the disclosed design is that it is difficult for a user to detect whether the brush roll needs to be subject to a cleaning action, since the rotary brush only is visible via a downward-facing opening of the nozzle where dirt and debris are received.
In a first aspect, there is provided a vacuum cleaner nozzle having a housing having a downward facing opening, a brush roll mounted to the housing at the downward facing opening and having a plurality of bristles extending therefrom, the brush roll being rotatable relative to the housing around a longitudinal axis of the brush roll, and a brush roll cleaner mounted to the housing. The brush roll cleaner includes a longitudinal bar extending along the longitudinal axis of the brush and pivotally connected to the housing at a pivot axis, an edge connected to the longitudinal bar, the edge being spaced from the pivot axis and extending along to the longitudinal axis of the brush, and an arm extending from the longitudinal bar, the arm being configured to transmit a force to rotate the brush roll cleaner from a first position in which the edge does not contact the brush roll, to a second position in which the edge contacts the brush roll to remove debris from the brush roll as the brush roll rotates.
In various aspects, the foregoing vacuum cleaner nozzle may further include a push button mounted on an outer face of the housing and operably connected to the arm, such that application of a pressing force on the push button moves the brush roll cleaner from the first position to the second position. The push button may be behind the longitudinal bar.
In other aspects, the pivot axis may be above and behind the longitudinal axis of the brush, the edge may be a sheet member extending from the longitudinal bar, the edge may be steel, the edge may be the distal edge of a resilient sheet extending from the longitudinal bar, the edge may be a sharp edge, and the edge may be a sharp steel edge formed by punch pressing, shearing or machining the steel.
The brush roll cleaner may include a protruding part extending from the longitudinal bar and sized to contact the plurality of bristles in advance of the edge as the brush roll rotates.
The arm may be located proximal to one end of the longitudinal bar.
In other aspects, at least a portion of the housing may be transparent to allow the brush roll to be seen therethrough. The nozzle also may include one or more lights configured to illuminate the brush roll. Such lights may be configured to be activated by movement of the brush roll cleaner to the second position.
In still other aspects, the brush roll may include a support surface that the edge is configured to contact when the brush roll cleaner is in the second position. Such a support surface may have at least one helical surface extending along the longitudinal axis of the brush roll. Such a support surface may have a first length extending along the longitudinal axis of the brush roll, and the edge may have a second length extending along the longitudinal axis of the brush roll, and the first length and the second length are the same. The support surface may be provided on a radially projecting portion of the brush roll. The radially projecting portion may have radial ribs having pockets between adjacent pairs of radial ribs.
In another aspect, there is provided a vacuum cleaner nozzle having a housing having a downward facing opening, a brush roll mounted to the housing at the downward facing opening and having a plurality of bristles extending therefrom, the brush roll being rotatable relative to the housing around a longitudinal axis of the brush roll, and a brush roll cleaner mounted to the housing. The brush roll cleaner includes a longitudinal bar extending along the longitudinal axis of the brush and pivotally connected to the housing at a pivot axis, a sharpened steel edge connected to the longitudinal bar, the edge being spaced from the pivot axis and extending along to the longitudinal axis of the brush, an arm extending from the longitudinal bar at a location proximal to one end of the longitudinal bar, the arm being configured to transmit a force to rotate the brush roll cleaner from a first position in which the edge does not contact the brush roll, to a second position in which the edge contacts the brush roll to remove debris from the brush roll as the brush roll rotates, and a push button mounted on an outer face of the housing and operably connected to the arm, such that application of a pressing force on the push button moves the brush roll cleaner from the first position to the second position.
The various aspects of the invention, including its particular features and advantages, will be readily understood from the following detailed description and the accompanying drawings, in which:
The present invention will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which example embodiments are shown. However, this invention should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Throughout the following description similar reference numerals have been used to denote similar elements, parts, items or features, when applicable.
Thereby, the user is able to see if there are a lot of articles like hair entangled to the rotatable member 3. The user initiates cleaning of the rotatable member 3 by pushing a push button 6 on the nozzle 1.
In a cleaning position, a resilient sheet member 5a of the cleaning member 5 co-operates with the support surface 4 during rotation of the rotatable member 3 to remove any entangled articles from the rotatable member 3. The resilient sheet member 5a is capable of providing a resilient contact with the support surface 4 in the cleaning position during rotation of the rotatable member 3. Thereby, the possible slow down of the rotational speed of the rotatable member 3 due to the cleaning action will be limited if there is a lot of entangled articles to be removed. The nozzle 1 comprises a cover 12 that at least partly is made of transparent material such that the rotatable member 3 may be visible through the nozzle cover 12. The transparency enables a user to see if a cleaning action is needed or not.
With further reference to
In
A problem during cleaning of the brush roll is that entanglement around the brush roll seems not to be evenly spread along the length of the brush roll. Instead, entanglement is of greatest magnitude in the middle segment of the brush roll. Such uneven distribution of the entangled articles is disadvantageous from a brush roll cleaning perspective because cleaning of the top layers of entanglement are performed for each revolution of the brush roll, i.e. the more the layers of entangled articles at a specific segment the longer the total cleaning time. Therefore, the brush roll cleaning time is dependent on the maximum layers of entanglement at one specific segment of the brush roll. Therefore it is more beneficial if the total entanglement is spread out along the length of the brush roll. As seen from the
from wandering towards the middle segment. Thereby, a greater distribution of the entangled articles along the length of the brush roll is achieved, and the total brush roll cleaning time is reduced. Each pocket 11 catches and hinder particles like hair from wandering along the length of the brush roll.
When in use, the cleaning arrangement works as follows. During brush roll cleaning the cleaning member 5 will interact and apply pressure on a support surface 4 provided on a rotatable brush roll provided in the nozzle 1 of a vacuum cleaner. During the cleaning process, the motor fan of the vacuum cleaner is also turned on. The support surface 4 is the only area of the brush roll, apart from the bristles, that will be in contact with the cleaning member 5 during a cleaning process. For a full revolution of the brush roll, the entire support surface 4 will have been in contact with the cleaning member 5 and therefore will any entangled article be exposed to the cleaning interaction in between these parts. Entangled articles will get torn into smaller pieces by the tearing, or friction, caused by the cleaning member 5 at the support surface. These torn articles may be separated from the brush roll by the airflow of the vacuum cleaner in combination with centrifugal force due to the rotational movement of the brush roll and will end up in the dust container or dust bag of the vacuum cleaner. The bristles of the brush roll will flex below the cleaning member 5 during brush roll cleaning. Since it is the pressure that the cleaning member 5 applies on the surface of the support surface 4 that generates the majority of the tearing friction, the bristles will not be exposed to the same wear as the entangled articles. Further, since the resilient sheet member 5a is able to flex, a consistent interaction in between the resilient sheet member 5a and the support surface 4 during brush roll cleaning is achieved, which in turn will lower the tolerances. The brush roll cleaning performance is dependent on the rotational speed of the brush roll; the higher speed, the faster brush roll cleaning. Further on the speed is closely related to the torque; an increased torque will decrease the speed. It is therefore important to find a state were the applied torque is high enough for efficient brush roll cleaning whilst at the same time low enough to not decrease the speed too much.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/EP2011/068743 | Oct 2011 | EP | regional |
This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 14/354,449, filed Apr. 25, 2014, which is a national stage of International Application PCT/EP2012/071319, filed Oct. 26, 2012, which claims priority to International Application PCT/EP2011/068743, filed Oct. 26, 2011. This application claims priority to and the benefit of the foregoing applications, and the foregoing applications are incorporated herein by reference.
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 14354449 | Apr 2014 | US |
Child | 15443634 | US |